#6 Sex and Drugs and Polygamy (Genesis 30:15-16)

Genesis
30:15-16

But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes.” When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.-----

For
those who may be confused, here’s the story:(v14)Jacob’s son Reuben (my favorite sandwich) found some mandrakes (commonly used as
narcotics throughout history) and gave them to his mother, Leah. Leah, wife #1 of Jacob, is approached by
Rachel (wife #2) who asks for some of the mandrakes. The two made an agreement that in exchange for
the mandrakes, Jacob would have sex with Leah that night. Leah met Jacob in the field later that day,
told him “At the cost of some fruit, I hired
you for sex tonight. Let’s go.” Jacob went “in unto her” and (v17)God gave her a
kid.

(v1-8)Bonus sex: Jacob slept ("as a wife") with Rachel's servant, Bilhah, per Rachel's command, and had two sons named Dan and Naphtali. (v9-13)Jacob's other wife, Leah, then gave Jacob her servant, Zilpah, to sleep with and make babies (Gad and Asher) with. While it caused a lot of tension between his wives, the baby-makin' business was goin' good for Jacob!

Genesis 30 shows us that Jacob,
the incestuous polygamist ((Genesis29) his two
wives are his cousins) is causing
strife between his wives, apparently denying the sexual gratification of one come the tale of the mandrakes. One would think an extra-large bed might be a
good solution.

Many Christians like to talk about "the sanctity of marriage" (over a megaphone while you try to buy a coffee across the street) while the Bible has a lot of polygamy in it. The Bible even has tenants that allow for polygamy in the Old Testament law (Exodus21:10)(Deuteronomy21:15)! Odd enough, there's more verses about multiple wives and no mention of the number of spouses or verses that mention multiple wives with no negative connotation than there are verses that specifically suggest "one man, one woman." (Deuteronomy 17:17, before anyone brings it up, is for "Israel's Kings" and also does not explicitly prohibit polygamy with its wording.) Christians, your book contains lots of explicit (and implicit) polygamy and "a few of those stories eventually became cautionary tales about polygamy" is weak sauce.

Wow, there's sex all throughout this holy book! I sure don't remember such passages being mentioned in Sunday school!